Optical fiber is a popular medium for a number of applications. In particular, optical technology is being utilized more in broadband systems where communications between systems take place on high-speed optical channels. Efficient utilization of the real estate on circuit boards, racks/shelves, back planes, distribution cabinets, etc., is important. Optic fiber devices continue to become miniaturized in view of this.
With the miniaturization of optical modules and optical fiber devices, the management of optical fiber congestion has become an issue at optical interfaces and connection distribution points. One solution is the use of multi-fiber ribbon in which a plurality of optical fibers are organized and molded side by side in a plastic ribbon. It is known to interconnect these ribbon cables by supporting the fibers between two support members made of a monocrystalline material, such as silicon. In the support members are V-grooves formed utilizing photolithographic masking and etching techniques. The fibers are placed side by side in individual V-grooves of one support member and the other mating support member having corresponding V-grooves is placed over the fibers so as to bind or hold the fibers in a high precision, spatial relationship between the mating V-grooves. The top and bottom support members sandwiching the multi-fiber ribbon are bonded together with a clamp or adhesive, forming a ferrule of a multi-fiber connector. Two mating ferrules with the same fiber spacing may then be placed in an abutting relationship so that the ends of the fibers of the respective ferrules are substantially co-axially aligned with one another, thereby forming a multi-fiber connection. If desired, such ferrules can be stacked in order to increase the interconnection density.
Multi-fiber ribbons and connectors have numerous applications in optic communication systems. For instance, some opto-electronic and optical application specific integrated circuits (OASIC) devices, e.g., optical switches, optical power splitters/combiners, routers, etc., have several input and/or output ports arranged as linear arrays to which a plurality of fibers are to be coupled. Further, since optical fibers are attached to launch optical signals into these devices and extract optical signals out of these devices, splicing of arrays of fibers (i.e., a multi-fiber ribbon) to such devices can be achieved using multifiber connectors.
One factor important to the optical efficiency of a multi-fiber connector, whether or not stacked, is the precise alignment of the mating ferrules with regard to one another. As the ferrule structures utilized to achieve the precise axial and lateral alignment of corresponding optical fibers of a multi-fiber connection become smaller, there exists a need for connectors that are likewise space efficient so that full advantage of the miniaturized ferrule can be realized with higher interconnection density. Further, there also exists the need for multi-fiber connectors to be user friendly so that the operation and utility of the multi-fiber connector is intuitive to the workers that will be installing systems utilizing optical components. For example, it is desirable for multi-fiber connectors to have plug-and-play capability, in that they can be quickly and easily coupled to a piece of equipment, device, or one another. There exists a need for miniaturized multi-fiber connectors in order to take advantage of the more space efficient optical ferrules while, at the same time, increasing the functionality and ease of use of such multi-fiber connectors.